Have Cheap Luggage, Will Travel

I am runner

I consider myself an intelligent person and not easily swayed to become a “joiner” based on group think - except for my ipod purchase - but for some reason I found myself signed up to run in the Susan G. Komen 5K with several of my co-workers.

Let me preface this by telling you that I am not a runner. I only occasionally work out and running ain’t part of the routine. So, I am not sure what I was thinking.

Several of my friends at work had been talking about their recent experience running a ½ marathon and how great it made them feel. It did peak my interest. Now, I only had a month and my intelligence tells me that starting from 0 and working up to running a 5K in a month will be very hard but I confess I wanted to be a joiner. Let me explain why.

I have gone to cheer on friends of mine at races before and if you have never been, I recommend it. There is a whole underground community of runners that know each other and even if you don’t know anybody, there is still the mutual bond of having just ran the race together. Also, the sponsors are usually shelling out all kinds of free goodies in a very festival type atmosphere. When you are there, it is very intoxicating and I admit that I wanted to be a part of that.

So race day kept getting closer and only one thought kept coming up in my mind. What was I thinking? Race day and the phrase impending doom seemed synonymous for a whole month.

The morning of the race my stomach was all fluttery with excitement. We got there with no problems and started running at 8am. Man was it hard. I started praying around mile one.

As I am pouring out my desire to the Lord to be able to run the whole time, I notice that Fergie is yelling in my ears via my cool-according-to-the-world ipod about her lumps and my praying is getting all lost. So I switch over to worship music and it made all of the difference in the world.

I have never felt alive like that before. As I ran, the music reminded me the things that I believe deep in my soul. I became acutely aware of nature around me and how grateful I was to be in it. Another benefit of being a very slow runner in a Susan G. Komen race is that people put who they are running for (in memory of and celebration of) on signs that they pin to their backs. As people passed me I got to be reminded again of how grateful I am that I am alive.

As I got closer to the finish line, people lined the sidewalks cheering me on. “Go runner!” they yelled. “You’re almost there! Keep going!” It felt really great to be a joiner that day. I felt like Maximus in ancient Rome defying his individuality to be called gladiator. That day I had no name, but the crowds acknowledged me as runner.

Also, in case you are wondering, 36 minutes. Pretty dang good for my first 5K I think. I’m not sure why they call them “fun runs” because it was NOT fun, but the experience was worth everything and will keep me coming back for more.